You Have My Respect
by the reason you miss me
Summary: Sasuke Uchiha wasn't one to give compliments, ever. But he could make an exception. For her. SasuSaku Oneshot.


Sasuke should have said something, he really should have. He should have spoken up, or at the very least, grabbed his teammate by the wrist and dragged her away from the awaiting drama. He really should've, and now knew that she was going to be all mopey, and that irked him to no end.

A depressed Sakura led to a pissed Sasuke, because she sat in solitude, screwed up on missions, and stared off into space. It wasn't like normal-Sakura and he hated things to be out of order. The one thing that was the same, was that if anyone disturbed her when she wasn't her jolly-self, was that they got whacked in the jaw. He usually left that to Naruto, of course.

And, _of course_, it was only something that would hurt Sakura's feelings. If it had been told to Sasuke, he would have just walked away. Naruto, well, he might have spouted off something sarcastic, but leave it to the female of the team to get all heart-broke and teary-eyed. And for what, you may ask?

An insult to her _hair._

Team Seven had just finished their mission of finding a random civillians dogs. A simple D-Ranked mission, which of course Naruto had a fit about, but with a challenging remark from Sasuke, he was ready to get cracking. The kunoichi started complaining as well, when it was explained that the owner had _fifteen_ dogs. It was an annoyance to Sasuke, but since it was their only mission for the day, he could live with it. When Sakura started spewing off questions like "Isn't there a limit to how many dogs one can own?" and "Honestly, who keeps fifteen dogs in their house?" they were simply ushered out the door and Kakashi told them to get to work.

They were done at about four in the afternoon, (and would have been done an hour and a half earlier, had Naruto not screwed up and let all the freaking mutts go on accident), and the blonde loudmouth convinced them to go for a meal at Ichiraku Ramen. They hadn't eaten all day, and even though their sensei had assured them the mission would start bright and early, he hadn't showed up until half-past eleven.

They sat down, Sakura in the middle and he and his teammate on either side. Him and Sakura only ordered a basic bowl, yet Naruto ordering some "usual". Sure, it would mess up his dinner, but Sasuke could worry about that later. Now, he was hungry.

About five minutes into their meal, two girls sat down next to Sasuke. Apperently they were civillians, and wouldn't be drooling all over _him_ instead of their food.

"Hey, hey. Ami, look, it's Forehead-Girl!" One of the girls said. She had unappealing brown hair, that was set in some poofy mangeled style. He'd seen it around town, apperently it was the "style". He hoped the trend would die over soon. The other girl wore her dark purple hair straight down her back, and looked at his pink-haired teammate sitting in next to him. He let his gaze follow, to see Sakura frozen with her chopsticks halfway towards her mouth. He didn't know what to do or say, and Naruto was too busy slurping down the soup of his third bowl to help him in the awkward moment.

Whenever someone still poked fun at her rather..erm, large, brow, (those who still had the courage, anway) she replied with some witty comeback, or walloped them on the back of the head. But no, now she sat here, still. She was staring at the table, yet nothing at all. What was the big deal about a couple of bullies anyway? Shouldn't they know not to mess with a ninja, even if it was one as unexperienced as Sakura Haruno?

"A-ami? Natsuko?" She muttered meekly.

"What was that, you loser? Look at that headband, trying to play ninja?"

Sasuke supressed a smirk when his teammate finally glared back at the two girls.

"I actually am a ninja, not some failure who got sent back to the academy like you." She snarled.

"What did you say, Haruno?" The purple haired girl, Ami, he'd presumed, stood up and walked to Sakura's seat. Sasuke sighed.

"You heard me." Sakura said lightly, and took a polite mouthful of ramen. The two girls looked horridly offended to be brushed off so easily.

Sasuke sensed the hand being raised up, and saw it as it grabbed Sakura's pink locks and spun her around on her chair. He could have intervened, but Sakura was a big girl, a ninja for crying out loud! She could hold her own against two civillian bullies.

The girl with the mess of brown hair walked over to the scene and smacked Sakura across the face.

"Learn your place, Haruno! Don't be jealous because I'm better than you and always will be, capiche?" Ami spat in her face.

Why was Sakura sitting there taking this? Not saying a word, not yelping in pain.

"Man you're stupid. Forget how to talk? Natsuko, look. Wittle bitty Sakuwa forgot how to speak." Ami taunted, while her friend laughed.

"Ugh, look at this mess." The other girl, Natsuko, scrunched her nose. "This little ugly pale pink mess on your head. Is this supposed to your..hair?"

Sasuke inwardly scoffed. _Look who's talking_, he thought. Along with the insult being lame, he looked at Sakura, expecting to see her laughing.

He almost gasped at how wrong he was.

She looked so...hurt. Emotionally. He knew Sakura better than that. There was no way some petty little insult could even do anything besides piss her off. There was no way these two fools could've caused such a big blow to her self esteem. There was something more - there _had_ to be.

And then it hit him. He _had _seen these girls before. They were at the ninja academy, yet took strictly kunoichi classes. It could explain why they weren't fawning over him, like every other girl he went to school with. He blinked a few times.

_"Sasuke?"_

_"Yes, Itachi?"_

_Sasuke rode on his older brothers' back on the way home from a tough day at the academy. _

_"What's going on over there?" Itachi used a free hand to point. There was a group of girls, about five standing, and one on the ground. They kicked dirt at her, and there was laughing and crying heard._

_"That's Sakura Haruno," Sasuke said as if it was common knowledge. "Everyone makes fun of her because he has a huuuuge forehead!"_

_"Well that's not very nice." His older brother frowned. "Where are her friends? To stick up for her?"_

_"I don't figure she has any." Sasuke sighed. Was Itachi trying to play the guilt trip with him?_

_"Maybe you can be her friend!" Itachi suggested cheerily. His brother never really relaxed and played with anyone._

_"Hn..." Sasuke Uchiha didn't go to school to make friends. He went to school to become a great ninja._

_"And when you're older, she can be your girlfriend."_

_"Say, Itachi" Sasuke inquired, "What do boys do with girlfriends?"_

_"Well," his brother laughed, "you hug, and go on dates, and kiss, and all that good stuff."_

_"Yuck!" The young Uchiha yelled with a disgusted face._

_"Well just you wait a few years, Sasuke. I'm pretty sure your opinion will change."_

Sasuke shook his head as he re-entered reality. Maybe he'd take Itachi's advice, no matter what how much he loathed him. He had been pretty wise way-back-when. He did consider Sakura his friend now, and hell, why not stand up from her? If she asked questions, he could blame it on the annoying girls interrupting his meal.

Just as Sasuke was going to grab Natsuko's wrist before her fist hit Sakura's stomach, but a man grabbed her from behind before he could. Same with Ami.

"Yes, yes, that's them! The troublemakers." Teuchi, the ramen shop owner, came over to the scene. The two large men, whom he presumed were bodyguards, dragged Ami and Natsuko away from the place. "And if you ever come back, don't think I'll hestitate to get to your parents about this!"

Sasuke looked back at Sakura who stared at the ground. Her eyes looked all misty and burry from built-up tears. Naruto had his hand on her shoulder, asking her what had happened. Had the dunce really not seen a single event that had just unfolded?

And here they were. Sakura's body looked lifeless, and he racked his brain for what could have caused such a break-down.

And it hit him.

Her hair.

The stupid, lame, jab at her hair had hurt her so badly. And it all began to make sense.

When Sakura was little, her hair had been fairly short, about the length it was now. Throughout her time at the academy, it was grown out. He was no fool, he knew about the rumors that he liked girls with really long hair. And then when he woke in the Forest of Death, it was a short and uneven mess. She'd told Naruto that she'd merely wanted to update her image, and that it was much more practical for a kunoichi to have a less-matience hairstyle. However, when the loudmouth wasn't around, Sakura explained what really happened about the Otonin's hold on her, and it was her only means of escape. She'd grown it out for his liking, she'd cut it for his safety, with the chance of permanent damage.

And he'd just sat there and watched as those girls talked about it as if it was trash.

He felt...bad? Sorry? Guilty?

Sasuke Uchiha wasn't one to give compliments, ever. But he could make an exception. For her.

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. His tongue felt dry. What was there to say? "Sakura, you have nice hair!" wasn't the way to go. It didn't sound like something he'd say, and knew she wouldn't buy it.

He reached out and grabbed a few strands. Crap. What was he doing? He sensed Sakura's body tense, and the dobe look at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"Sakura. Don't let those idiots bother you. Your hair is no concern to them. It's been through what is has, because you've put it all on the line as a ninja, and for this team. That alone has my respect more than those girls ever will."

It felt a little silly to say some hair has been through alot, but he wasn't great in the compliment department.

Her face was decorated with a light pink as her expression brightened. She started beaming and stood.

"Thank you very much, Sasuke-kun!" She giggled and waved. "I'd best be going."

He watched her as she walked down the path away from him. There. It wasn't something Prince Charming would do, but he'd knew it helped her self esteem a great amount.

He heard a loud sigh behind him. Naruto placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Man Sasuke, why you gotta be so out of the ordinary? You could'a said it plain and simple."

"What are you blathering about?" He said as she smacked his money on the counter.

"You think her hair is _really_ cute."

Was his stupidness contagious? Sasuke felt his face become hot. "Shut your face, deadlast."

* * *

**A/N: Aha, so. I had this cute little idea while I was eating today, and I had to come write it. It turned out longer than I wanted it to, and pretty badly, but I hope you enjoy this fluffy cute little drabble-y thingy. By the way, just to be clear, this is set before Sasuke left the village to the sound. And to my readers, I am BACK! I sort of had a fall-out with anime and manga, but the obsession is back full throttle. So look for updates to my stories soon!**


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